Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Shards of Fate
by PaintingEevee16
Summary: A human boy finds himself in the body of an Eevee with no recollection of his former life, he must learn to adapt quickly to his new body in order to stop a sinister organization's plot before it's too late.
1. Prologue

"AUGH!" A pained yell escapes my throat before I clutch my left eye and start sprinting in the opposite direction.

My mind is going through a frenzy as I try to get away from the assaulter, my legs struggle to find footing amidst the roots of the damp, foggy forest as I try to deal with the absence of my sense of direction. My breathing comes in pained gasps, gradually constricting my chest to the point of agony.

All this confusion comes to a stop as I find myself somehow standing at the edge of a chasm so deep and wide I can't see either the bottom or the other side.

I look around frantically for a way around this new predicament, but I realize that I am trapped.

I turn around to find myself looking at the creature that was chasing me. In my shock to see it so close I stumble backwards, barely catching myself from plummeting into the pit.

The creature is impossible to see clearly through the fog, but it is obvious that it walks on two legs and is clearly not human.

The creature lifts two green hands and puts them out in a battle stance, then lunges at me! with reflexes I didn't know I had, I barely dodge a dodge a fatal blow from a mysterious green blade attached to the creature's forearms.

But in dodging the blade my foot slips over the edge of the precipice and I fall into the inky blackness, but not before the creature slices at me landing a glancing blow on my chest and I gasp in pain before plummeting to my death…

Why?… why am I not dead yet? My mind asks the question that should have been obvious. I feel myself still falling but, there is nothing to confirm whether it's true or not. there is only the blackness that surrounds me. I grit my teeth, expecting to hit the rocks at the bottom at any second… but I don't, I feel myself come to a stop but I am suspended in space. Confused, I try to look around but there is nothing to see, only darkness. Something is wrong, but I can't figure it out. _ I should be dead already!_ I try to move, but something is constricting my movements.

All of a sudden, I start plummeting again! I try to make sense of the things that are happening to me, but I realize that I can't even remember how I got here.

I start to see light at the bottom of the pit. Wait… light? I finally come to the conclusion that I am going crazy. I fall through the light and feel myself crash into a lot of branches and tumble through the canopy, then I crash head-first into a huge root before everything goes black.

**PaintingEevee presents:**

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Shards of Fate**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Blank Canvas

I… I feel a breeze ruffle the hair on top of my head… It… It feels cool…

Laying at the base of a huge tree, my muscles let their discomfort be known by sending out an ache that runs through my entire body. I open my eyes, but everything is so blurry I can't tell what my surroundings are.

I hear water, it's a short distance to my right by the sound of it. I don't know if I can make it there, but my mouth is dry and I attempt to stand. Bracing my hands against the tree, I attempt to pull myself up. _Why do my hands feel weird? _

Dismissing the thought I focus on taking my first step, I succeed with that step while holding onto the tree. However, I will not be able to see how far I am away from the water with my blurry vision. Making a stupid decision, I let go of the tree while taking my second step. My feet begin to wobble as I try to balance on them, and when I try to take another step my knees don't bend the way they're supposed too.

The result is I stumble forward, collapse, and smack my chin against the hard ground. "MMPPHH!" I yell through my closed mouth as I bite down hard on my tongue, my eyes begin to water as the pain fills my mouth with the coppery taste of blood.

_That was brilliant! _I think to myself sarcastically. Having another reason to get to the water, I come to the conclusion that the best way to get over there with the least amount of pain, is to crawl over.

Blindly reaching out my arm I gradually pull myself forward, though for some reason my hands

refuse to grip the ground. Forcing me to try and move using flat hands, and hope friction with the ground is enough to pull me forward.

due to the gradual increase in the sound I assume I am slowly approaching the water, it turns out that it sounds like a stream, because it's too quiet to sound like a river.

I feel mud on my hands as I crawl to the edge of the water, then I gradually smear more and more of the mud onto me as I attempt to get close enough to drink. By intuition only I stretch out my arms to try and get some water, sinking my hands into the stream I attempt to bring some of the clear liquid up to my mouth, but the water slips through my hands as they fail to cup the water.

Grunting in frustration, I scoot a little closer and prepare to bring my mouth to the water. When my mouth touches the water it seems so far away from my eyes that it feels abnormal, but I dismiss this thought as well because my lack of perception isn't exactly 20/20 at the moment.

First I wash the blood from my tongue, then I continue to take several large gulps. Feeling a lot better with my thirst quenched, but still unable to say anything, I start backwards-crawling away from the water.

Then I hear a screeching sound that chills every nerve in my body, and causes me to slip in the mud and slide into the water. I have absolutely no strength to refuse.

The water takes me into it's chilly stream with no resistance, my limbs refuse to move as I try to bring myself to the surface to breathe. Surprisingly, I can see a little better under the water than when I was on land. Everything was still in blurry, but at least I could make out rocks and sticks as their colors contrasted with the mud at the bottom.

"Iiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee" The sound rings in my ears, even through the water I hear the terrible sound a second time as it cuts through the whooshing sound of the stream. Sounding like nails on a chalkboard, forcing my muscles to tighten up and refuse to help in my struggle for air.

My lungs begin to scream their need for air, but I don't have any to give. Trust me, I would give them all the air they wanted if I had any.

Suddenly, something metallic grips me around my midsection and lifts me out of the water!

As soon as my mouth clears the surface I take in such a huge amount of air in a single breath that I begin choking as I feel myself rising into the air. I feel that the situation suggests that I call for help, but my still recovering lungs refuse to obey. The only that comes out is a weak croak for help that is barely over a whisper.

I hear the creature that is carrying me give it's huge screech again, and it causes my ears to feel like they are bleeding. My hearing is impaired so much, I don't recognize any sound but a tiny noise from below.

Fwoosh! Something really hot passes behind my back and barely misses me before colliding with the creature, causing a sickening sensation to fill my stomach as I am tossed away in it's pain.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Desperately, my lungs decide this situation is more important as a terrified yell escapes my throat.

_This is it, I'm going to die. _I try to think of who will miss me when I'm gone, who will miss the person known as… As…

Scared by the new situation more than the thought of death, I yell a second time, truly sounding like a mortally wounded animal as I realize that I don't know who I am.

Suddenly, my fall comes to a sudden stop as someone catches me. I try to see who it is, but my vision is so terrible I don't see anything. But, I do catch some colors of bright orange and red before my head is turned away by the person who is carrying me.

I think I might've also heard whoever saved me say that I'll be okay, but I can't tell for sure before the shock and the exertion from the recent events knocks me out.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meet The Team

I feel someone poking me, telling me to wake up. _Why?_ It feels good to have a break after the recent events. I feel some grass rustle underneath me as I roll away from the poking.

I earn myself a few precious seconds of rest, but they don't last long before something hits my shoulder.

"Ow!" I say as my eyes open and I attempt to orient myself. Hopefully my eyesight is better today.

Looking around I see lots of trees, their greens sharply contrasted against the dark brown of the trunks. Over to my left I see a stream of water, possibly the same one I almost drowned in. I give a little wince as the memories of choking come rushing back to the front of my mind.

"Good morning, how do you feel?"

Turning my head I attempt to reply, "I'm alr-AAHH!"

Standing a few feet away from me is a bipedal lizard with a huge flame on his tail. It had a messenger bag on that was covered from top to bottom in stitches, and there was a black bandana tied around it's neck.

_I'm dreaming! I still haven't woken up yet! _I try to tell myself in my head. "L-lizards can't talk!"

The lizard just stood there like nothing special had happened, he must've had plenty of experience with half-crazy people like me. Then he gave a little smile as he rose his arm like he was preparing for introductions.

"Well actually, I'm a Charmander, pleased to meet you. What's your name?"

Suddenly it felt like a dagger had been shoved into my chest. I didn't know my name, I started to make up one for temporarily, but I felt that lying would put me in an even worse position.

I struggle to find something to say, but all that comes out is "uuummm".

"Haha that's okay!" He says before grabbing my hand.

… I realize as he shakes my hand… It doesn't feel like a hand… It feels like…

I look at my "hand" to find that a paw with smooth brown fur, had taken it's place. Continuing up my arm, my eyes follow the brown fur as it goes up to a collar of cream-colored hair that is extremely soft. Then I continue until I see an appendage coming out of my behind with some more of the cream-colored fur at the top. I try moving it, and it does, just like a tail.

It all becomes too much, "I HAVE A TAIL!" I yell as I startle the "Charmander" I just met before attempting to run over to the stream to look at my reflection. I have trouble walking on two feet, so I trip-walk over to the water to stare at my reflection as I take in the sights.

The first thing I see are the huge ears, they are pointed straight up are the same color as my fur. Next, I notice that I have a mouth very similar to a fox, which explains the trouble I had with drinking water earlier. Finally, I notice my eyes, they gleam back at me as I notice that they are two different colors. My right eye is a normal looking hazel color, while my left eye grabs all of the attention with a shocking silver that seems to captivate me the more I look at it.

I don't even bother with trying to convince my new company that I'm not crazy, I simply turn around with a look of intense confusion on my face and ask. "What am I?"

This seems to take the Charmander by surprise, he stands there trying to think of something to say while his claws grip the strap to his bag tightly.

"You don't know?" it was more of a statement, rather than a question. He mumbles to himself, "Amnesia in a dungeon, now there's a first." I catch the word "dungeon" but I'll wait to ask about that later.

The Charmander looks up from his strap, "Here, I'll tell you while we walk."

_Walk? He wants me to walk? Didn't he just see me attempt that like two seconds ago! _I give a sigh of frustration as I try to walk on two feet again.

I stumble forward again, but instead of going straight down I attempt to catch my fall. I end up standing on four legs, and for some reason, it feels right. Out of the corner of my eye I catch the Charmander dropping down onto all fours, as if showing me by example what I'm supposed to do.

"You have to move your back leg after your front leg takes a step, does that make sense?"

Picturing it in my mind, I think I understand. First I move my right front paw, then I bring my back right foot forward to stand a few inches behind the front. I wobble a little bit, the whole motion is weird because I'm used to walking on two legs.

"Better, but as you're bringing your back leg forward you have to simultaneously bring your opposite front leg forward." He then walks over to me thereby demonstrating the cycle of movement.

Trying it out, I find that it's a lot easier than before. It still feels foreign, but at least I don't wobble.

"Thanks," I say to the Charmander. He just shrugs then motions for me to follow him. I walk by his side, but not too close, because I don't want to get burned by his fire. We walk for a little bit, all the time the Charmander had a serious look on his face. Probably wondering what to do with me. I try to pass the time by listening to the wind, but eventually I get bored and just decide to ask.

"So... What am I?"

"Well... You're a pokemon known as an Eevee," the Charmander began, then looking as If he changed his mind. He said, "One of my friends saw you fall out of the sky and into the dungeon, so I went in there to rescue you."

_What's a Pokemon? Out of the sky? Into a dungeon? _I was beginning to wonder who the crazy one truly is.

"So, I just fell? Out of nothing, into this thing you call a dungeon?" The words came out sounding accusing, yet confused at the same time.

"Yeah, we have no idea where you fell from. Unless a flying type got really mad at you and carried you up before dropping you." He replied in a serious tone. Then he turns to me with a huge smile on his face, "It's a good thing I saved you from that Skarmory back there, huh?"

I process his reply, _if it is a flying type it means it can fly right?_ And by Skarmory he must've meant that creature that attacked me earlier.

"We're here!"

I look up and realize that there are no trees around us whatsoever, instead we are surrounded by a field of black rocks along with a gradual hill to our right. I take a moment to look around, but I don't see anything other than the rocks.

"What do you mean?" I ask, "I don't see anything here!"

Once again I see that huge knowing smile as he replies: "And we never will!" Charmander continues on to pick up one of the rocks and chuck it in a seemingly random direction, he then does the same with several more rocks before I hear a faint buzzing.

Something flashes, and before I know what's happened, I see myself standing in the middle of a circle of stone covered in writing. I look to my left, and there is Charmander looking at me expectantly.

"What did you think of your first time teleporting?"

I blink, "Teleporting?"

"Yep! But now's not the time, you've got to meet my friends!"

The next thing I know is I'm being carried by Charmander, as he dashes towards what looks like a hut made of grass and mud.

"I finished the rescue!" Charmander yells into the house as he carries me down a pair of wooden steps. Out of nowhere, something blue with a fin on its head comes running towards us before tackling us down.

"That's great! Hey! Did you hear that Bulbey? Orenji succeeded!"

I hear Charmander growl as he hears the word "Orenji" come out of the fish's mouth, and I wonder what it means.

"I'm coming." I see something emerge from another staircase in the back of the hut, it's quadruped and it has this big, green, plant-like-thing on its back.

Seeing us all laying on the ground, the green creature gives an exasperated sigh as it extends these green ropes from its plant and lifts us all to our feet.

"It's time for introductions!" The blue fish says in an excited tone, before coming over to me and shaking my paw so hard with his two blue feet that my arm gets sore. "I'm Ceru the Mudkip! Nice to meet you! What's your name!?"

"Umm" I begin to say before I am interrupted by Charmander.

"He doesn't know, the dungeon must've given him amnesia or something." He says with a tone of pity.

Instantly, Ceru stops shaking my arm, then he gives me a sad look before walking back to stand next to his orange friend.

"And I'm Bulbey the Bulbasaur, if you ever have any questions about different kinds of Pokemon you come to me." He says before giving a small... Paw-shake? I wasn't sure what to call it.

"Thank you for being so nice to me, I… I don't know my name, but thanks to Charmander at least I know that I'm an Eevee."

"Could you wait one moment please?" Charmander suddenly says, before turning around with his two friends to whisper amongst themselves.

I catch little snippets of what they're saying with my new ears, but I can't make out what they're saying.

"Great! It's settled then!" I hear Ceru exclaim as they all turn towards me.

I get a little nervous about what they're planning, and I realize I didn't really think when I just followed some random stranger back to his home. A little part of me says that I should run, but another part denies it and says to stay. So, I end up sitting there, indecisive about what I'm going to do while I wait for them to reply.

Charmander looks at his two friends and they both give a nod before he starts speaking.

"Ok, we've talked it over and have thought about your situation before coming to this conclusion. You see, there is this group that we are a part of, but we want to stand out and make a team. But in order to do that we need at least four members, and now all three of us want to ask you…"

He pauses and lets the tension build up. And for some reason, when I hear the next words come out of his mouth, my heart rate soars and I get so excited that I mindlessly begin wagging my tail.

"Will you form a Survival Team with us?"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Initiation**

"A-a survival team?" I say in confusion, my whole body is shaking violently from the excitement, and I have no idea why.

"Yeah! A survival team is the most fun thing you could be on!" Ceru exclaims as he sees my curiosity in the subject. "You get to go on missions, help other Pokemon, and see tons of new places while finding cool stuff!"

I'm still confused, I just met these Pokemon and they already want me to be on a survival team or whatever with them? Do I even trust them enough to say yes? Then, there is the matter of my amnesia and new body. What was I again? An eevee he said?

"It's ok if you take your time, this is a big decision, so you should use what time you have to really think about your choice." Bulbey advised with a serious but encouraging look on his face.

"Please consider it, we would really like to have a new member, and you seem like the perfect candidate." Charmander says with yet another big grin, then he quickly loses it and replaces it with a concerned look. "And if you don't join, where will you go?"

Another punch to the gut hits me, I have no idea how this world works or how the inhabitants of it will react. Even worse, I don't even know what I can do in this new body!

_What should I do? _I go through my list of options. They are pitifully small…

I think I know what to do. I'm not entirely sure whether I'm making the right choice, but I'm doing what my instincts say is right.

"I-I think I would l-like to join your team." I say with an annoying nervous stutter in my speech. Something tells me I was shy before all this.

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, all three of their faces light up with bright cheery smiles and they gain a sparkle in their eyes that I'm sure means they're delighted.

"Yay!" I collapse under their weight as all three of them decide to hug me at the same time. "I. Need. To. Breathe." I choke out as the air is squeezed from me.

I hear a few apologies as they get off of me. "Well let's get a good rest before we go to the guild tomorrow!" Charmander says while he helps me up onto my feet.

I didn't know anything about this "Guild", but the conversation clearly suggested that it was related to the survival team I was about to form with my new teammates. It feels weird, I only just met these guys and I know nothing about them other than their names. Yet, I'm about to form a team with them. It's funny how amnesia can do that to you.

"Why don't you come over here, I'll show you where you can sleep." Bulbey says while motioning for me to follow him into the back of the house.

I am lead down the steps at the back of the main living area into a room a little smaller than the first room, the room was ringed with lit candles on the wall and in the center there were four beds made out of piles of bright green and orange leaves.

"YOU CAN HAVE THAT ONE!" I hear Ceru yell as he sails over my head to land on the bed located in the back-right corner of the room. He then gives a little laugh when he sees my surprised reaction to his leap. "That one!" Ceru confirms to me as he points to the front-left bed.

"Uh, thanks." I reply as I walk my way over to the bed.

I feel a tingle of pleasure as soon as my paw touches the leaves, they are so soft they feel like they are massaging my feet. Instantly I lay down so as to have more of the leaves touching me, I end up flopping onto it sideways since I don't have a complete understanding of how my legs work yet.

I lift my head up and look around at the others, they seem to be holding back smiles as they notice my clumsiness with my new legs. I feel my face heat up with embarrassment, I know I definitely didn't like people laughing at me before this.

"It's ok, you'll get used to it, it just takes practice." Charmander whispers to me before he goes around the room using his claws to snuff out the candles.

Right before the last candle goes out, I see Bulbey lay down on the back-left bed and give a huge yawn. I'm feeling sleepy as well. I lay my head back down onto the leaves. The last thing I see before I fall asleep is Charmander curling up on the last bed, his tail flickering soothingly as the room is slightly illuminated…

I'm running… I feel my legs ache as I stumble over something… Something is chasing me, and it has bright red eyes… I… I'm afraid… I need to wake up… WAKE UP!

"WAKE UP!" Charmander yells.

I wake up instantly and almost headbutt Charmander as he is kneeling next to me. My heart is beating really fast inside of my chest and I try to slow down my breathing.

I feel Charmander place his claw onto my shoulder, "Hey." I turn my head and look into his bright blue eyes. They look very concerned.

"Are you ok?" He asks with a worried tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I say before giving him a little smile, I didn't want to worry him too much since he had something he was looking forward to.

I see him visually relax and give a sigh of relief, "That's good," he then adopts his usual smile, "Let's go eat something so we can start our team!"

Sunlight streams in through a window at the back of the room, I'm surprised I didn't see it the first time. I see that Bulbey and Ceru aren't on their beds, did they leave already?

I follow Charmander up the steps, it's a lot tougher going up with four legs than going down. I kept smacking my feet on the steps, wait, _paws._

"What was the yelling about?" I hear someone ask as I reach the top, it turns out to be Bulbey.

"It's ok, I was just worried since he wasn't waking up right away," Charmander replied, "what's for breakfast?"

There in the corner near a very small sink was Ceru, "We're having roasted Pechas!" He exclaims in an upbeat tone that I'm starting to realize he uses for all occasions. "Can you come over and help me Orenji?"

There it is again, Orenji, is that his name? He told me his name was Charmander, why did he lie to me? Is it because I seemed crazy yesterday? I was beginning to question my decision to form a team with them, I'll see if he'll tell me anything about it when I ask him later.

I hear Charmander give a grunt of "Fine." Before he goes over and helps Ceru.

I wait there in the center of the room, wondering what I should do, I'm thinking about leaving the house for a little walk. But before I can make up my mind, Bulbey walks over to me carrying something with his vines.

"Here you go, we all need one to be on a survival team." He says while placing the object in my outstretched paw.

I realize that it is made of cloth, I open up the folded cloth to find a single clear, flat object about the size of a dime.

"What's this?" I ask while holding up the clear object for closer observation.

"I guess you really do have amnesia," Bulbey gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head. "That's a contact, you'll probably need to wear it at all times when we're at the guild."

_What's a contact? And how come I haven't noticed any of the others have this "contact"?_

I decide to ask, "So... What am I supposed to do with this contact?"

"You need to wear it so that other pokemon won't see your silver eye. I have a feeling that they might not take it too well, when I saw it, I was also really surprised." Bulbey answered.

"Wait, so you want me to put this on my eye?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll try."

I lift the clear object up to my left eye, as I put it on I notice there is a slight brown circle that is the same color as my right eye. _That must be what he means by hiding my eye. _I get it on, but not without poking my eye in the process. My eyes begin to water, and I can't see from my left eye.

"Just keep blinking, you put it on slightly off center." Bulbey instructs while I begin blinking really fast."

Once it's in place,the pain goes away. I still keep blinking to clear the tears from my eyes though.

"There you go, now you can go look in the stream next to the house to see what it looks like. Hurry back, breakfast should be done soon!"

Listening to him I walk out the front door and look around, at first there is only a bright ray of sunshine. Then, once my eyes adjust to the bright light I look around to see quite a number of houses that look similar to the one I was just in. I saw some pokemon beginning to run around the houses, supposedly playing tag. I didn't know what kind they were, so I started looking near the house for water. I found that it was actually at the back of the house, I went up to it's glassy surface.

Practically untouched, the surface of the pond reflected the clouds and bright blue sky like a mirror. Looking at my own reflection, I saw that I had two hazel-colored eyes now instead of the second being silver. I was already a little creeped out, I was really surprised, I had thought there was no way the bright silver could've been masked that easily. And I didn't like it.

I didn't even know anything about myself, and they're already trying to hide stuff about me? But, then again, maybe there was a good reason for their reaction and I just didn't understand it yet.

I look back at my reflection, the hair on my head is really messy, but you can tell it was starting to lean to the left. That's when I noticed the black cloth around my neck. _Wha- H-how did that get there! _leaning my head to the side while looking in the water, I try to get a better look at the foreign object around my neck. It's short scarf and it matches the one Charmander was wearing yesterday.

Shrugging my shoulders in acceptance, I leave the scarf on and wash my face in the water before going back to the house. A few steps away from the entryway an extremely sweet scent comes through and collides with my nose. It smells really good, but it's really overpowering.

"Hey! Eevee's back!" Ceru yells as I come in, "Eevee?" I ask. I'm really confused, _did they give me a name?_

This time it was Bulbey that answered, "It's sort of a tradition, if you don't have or don't give a name then others will address you by your species."

Well, at least I'm gradually learning things.

"Here, you're probably hungry." Charmander says before placing three huge berries in front of me that look like they were pink before being roasted. Suddenly, I caught the scent again and I almost threw up, it was my stomach telling me that I hadn't eaten in forever and that I needed to eat. Now.

I scooped up one of the berries and put it in my mouth, once I bit into it I cringed at the overly sweet taste. I quickly ate the other two as fast as I could so the taste wouldn't have to be prolonged.

"Wow, it looks like I was right!" Charmander stated before giving me a huge smile. "How were they?" My face must have given away how I felt about them, "Well, it takes a few tries to get used to, you just need to get over the overpowering sweetness." He said this while finishing his own berry, "By the way, that scarf looks really good on you."

A compliment? I wasn't expecting one of those, and it was Bulbey who gave it to me, so I should be thanking him for it.

As soon as Ceru noticed that everyone was done eating he started getting restless and began jumping around the room in excitement. "Hurry let's go!" He said excitedly.

Then I was waiting around for a while as they put their own black scarves on and Charmander grabbed that ugly bag with lots of stitches.

"So, where is this guild?" I felt helpless not knowing anything about where we were going and I wanted that feeling to go away.

"It's not that far away actually, it's only a mile east of here." Charmander finished putting a couple berries in his bag, "Ok! Let's get going!"

We all did a little cheer before exiting the house and going right onto the road that lead through the village. I stayed at the back of the group while walking, I don't know what it was but I just wasn't comfortable around them yet. I heard a conversation going on between Ceru and Bulbey, but I couldn't make out what it was about. Charmander must've noticed that I was being left out and decided to slow down so he could be next to me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked,

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to answer, but I did.

"I just feel like I'm not getting information I need, I'm not sure what it is but I know I'm missing something."

Well, it wasn't a lie, I wasn't getting any information. But I did know what I was missing. Or, at least one of the things.

"You know... If you have any questions, you can always ask me." Charmander assured me, but he hesitated in the middle, I'm guessing because of not having prior experience with these issues.

_This is it, I should just ask his name right now! _I delayed my response, _Why do I wait? Is it because I saw his reaction earlier? _I remembered how mad he sounded when he growled after hearing his name being spoken by Ceru. _No! don't wait! _My mind screamed at me and I finally decided to just go through with it.

"I wanted to ask…" Charmander turned his head to look at me while I simultaneously averted my eyes to the ground. _This is it! _"I-I wanted to ask is Orenji your real name?" I stuttered before turning my head to see his reaction.

I wished I didn't, his face was so contorted with rage that I unconsciously backed away a few steps. He seemed to get a grip on his anger then he gave a huge sigh, "I'm sorry, you're right in that I didn't tell you my name. Yes, my name is Orenji." He winced as if saying the word out loud pained him. So I once again decided to ask.

"Why do you not like the name?"

"Well, when I was growing up the other pokemon would make fun of me because of my name. You see, my dad didn't think I would ever live up to his standards so he tried to give me the name 'Oren' which sounds like the healing berry 'Oran' but is actually a poisonous look-alike. He told me that I looked like a charmander, but that I was really a fake, just like the berry. My mom didn't get much choice in the matter, but she was able to change it to 'Orenji' which means the color Orange in another really old language." Orenji gave a little sigh and rolled his eyes, "And so I've been stuck with that name ever since."

I thought about his reply, and I honestly wondered how his dad could possibly think something like that after seeing his son's positive attitude.

"Hey," I looked away sadly since I was really bothered about the truth of this next statement. "At least you have a name."

Suddenly, I felt Orenji patting my back before looking at me again with his blue eyes. I was really surprised to find they were wet. "Sorry, I was just being selfish." He rubbed his eyes then gave a big smile all past experiences behind him. "Let's get over this and become a better team together!"

For some reason I was relieved that he had told the truth, mostly because I was glad I had made the right choice in joining the team. Wait… Team, what is the team going to be called? I was about to ask Orenji about this when I heard Ceru yell, "WE'RE HERE!"

Looking ahead, I saw Ceru was pointing at a huge black door probably one-hundred times my height. I was puzzled as to how I didn't notice our approach to the door, but I walked up to the door and dismissed the thought before knocking. Instantly I got the same feeling I did when we were teleporting and we were suddenly on the opposite side of the door.

My jaw was probably scraping the floor as I looked at the sights: Not only were there pokemon everywhere, but it was like a huge market place. Shops for food here, stands for merchandise there, it was crazy! I started to head towards the shops, but I was stopped by a vine from Bulbey. "We need to go this way!" He tried to speak over the commotion, I didn't hear him, but I understood what he was trying to say, so I followed my three new friends as we went around the market to another door. This one was wooden and way smaller than the black one, probably only five times my height. Orenji pushed open the door and we followed him in.

We were lead into a tunnel that was dripping water from the ceiling and was so narrow we needed to go single-file in order to move comfortably. A couple of times I saw some drops of the water land on Orenji's tail, I was having a hard time discerning the sound of evaporating water from his annoyed hiss.

Roughly five minutes later I was surprised again as we came into a huge base, filled to the brim with tough-looking creatures as they carried sacks of materials and food around to the different rooms along the hallways that branched in rectangular patterns. I noticed that only the tunnel looked terrible, the rest of the base was made out of a thick black stone that was polished so nicely you could see your reflection if you tried hard enough.

"Let's go to the registration booth." Orenji pronounced while heading off into a hallway to the left, I tried to follow him again but I accidentally tripped over a stray rock and bumped into another fox-like creature like me.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" I stutter really quick at the creature.

"It's ok, don't worry about me, are you new here?" He asked, I assumed it was a boy because his voice sounded mischievous, like he was ready to play a huge prank on you or steal your valuables.

"Uh, yeah. Do you by any chance know where the registration booth is?" I ask.

"It's down the hall you were about to go through, where's your team? You do know you need at least four to make a team right?

I look around me and see that the others must've left without me and I start to freak out.

"They left me! Sorry but I have to go! Thank you mr..."

He gives a knowing laugh and catches my implied question, "you can call me Zilo, I'll see you around Eevee." And with that he simply walked away and continued on with his business.

I wasn't granted the luxury of walking, I sprinted down the hallway to where he had mentioned the booth was, it was there that I found my three friends at table with a creature with a spike coming out of it's head.

"Hey, you're just in time! We need you to sign here then we're a team! Ceru urged me. I rushed over to the table and found the paper where I was supposed to sign, I couldn't see any pencil or pen though. All I saw was a tray of ink. "Uhh,". Before I could ask again Orenji came over and told me I was supposed to put my paw in the ink then place it firmly on the empty spot on the paper.

I did as I was instructed, and I was given a respectful nod by the spike-headed creature after I had finished and slid the paper over to him. After he took the papers, he left us to ourselves at the table.

"Yay! We're now team Yujo!" Ceru couldn't contain his excitement, so he started squirting water everywhere.

"Team Yujo?" I was curious about the name, it sounded like the same language the word 'Orenji' came from.

"I came up with it," Bulbey announced looking very proud of himself, " I wanted to combine our main passion point plus have the name be unique, So 'Yujo' actually means friendship in the same old language 'Orenji' comes from." Orenji was still uncomfortable with his name being spoken aloud, but he at least didn't seem to get mad like before.

Team Yujo, I really liked the name since it seemed easy to say.

"We should probably pick who the team leader is now, right?" Ceru asked, yet he seemed more like he was stating something.

"Everyone, point at who you think should be leader!" Bulbey said really quickly so we would pick the first choice that popped into our heads. I quickly pointed towards Orenji as I thought he seemed the most suited with his positive and sometimes serious attitude.

I was not expecting all three of them to point towards me, "w-wait, I-I'm leader!?" I ask incredulously.

"You do seem to think things through the most, and you have no memories of who you were before. I think making you the leader would help us immensely." This was Orenji talking to me as he swiveled my own paw to face back at me. "We're counting on you."

I just stood there and processed what had just happened, was I ready for this?

"Don't worry,"Bulbey began, but was interrupted by Ceru "We've got your back!"

This was all a lot to take in all at once, I roughly prepared my mental stability so I could seem a little less shy. "Ok, I'll be leader."

I heard someone begin to speak really loudly and it seemed to be coming from rectangular bixes in the center of the room. "_All new teams, please show up at the back gate exit for training sessions. Thank you."_

Then, before I know it I'm being carried by my fellow teammates so I don't get trampled by the new teams. At the back door was the grey fox I met earlier, he had a black scarf on like all of the pokemon here did.

Once again I couldn't hear him before he opened the door and we were led outside.

There was a huge grass area with a few trees here and there, but the most prominent feature was a steep drop off that went down and through a bunch of clouds. _Clouds! We must very high up! _The grey fox walked over to the edge of the drop off. Pink petals blew around everyone as they came off of the trees. Before too long though, Zilo adorned a serious expression before beginning a speech.

"Well everyone, here is the survival guild training grounds, we'll be spending all day making sure you can be safe while out on a mission. Now, let the training begin now!

Then he allowed the current wind to sweep him off of his feet and throw him over the edge.


End file.
